A Gift From A Flower To A Garden
| A Gift From a Flower to a Garden | ||||
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| Studio album by Donovan | ||||
| Released | December 1967 (US) 16 April 1968 (UK) |
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| Genre | Folk rock, psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 59:24 | |||
| Label |
Pye NPL20000 (Monaural) / NSPL 20000 (Stereo) (UK) Epic L2N6071 (Monaural) / B2N171 (Stereo) (US) |
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| Producer | Mickie Most | |||
| Donovan chronology | ||||
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| Singles from "A Gift From a Flower to a Garden" | ||||
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| Wear Your Love Like Heaven (Album 1) | ||||
Epic LN 24349 (Monaural)
BN 26349 (Stereo) (US separate release) |
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| For Little Ones (Album 2) | ||||
Epic LN24350 (Monaural)
BN26350 (Stereo) (US separate release) |
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
|
AllMusic (original double album) |
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| AllMusic (for Wear Your Love Like Heaven) |
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| AllMusic (for For Little Ones) |
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| MusicHound | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
A Gift From a Flower to a Garden is the fifth album from British singer-songwriter Donovan, and marks the first double album of his career and one of the first box sets in rock music. It was released in the US in December 1967 (Epic Records L2N 6071 (monaural) / B2N 171 (stereo)) and in the UK on 16 April 1968 (Pye Records NPL 20000 (monaural) / NSPL 20000 (stereo)). In December 1967, Epic Records also released each of the two records from A Gift From a Flower to a Garden as separate albums in the US. The first record was released as Wear Your Love Like Heaven, and the second record was released as For Little Ones. This was done to allow budgeting for the double album package, which included a folder of the printed lyrics to the second disc with artwork, and a cover featuring an infrared photo of Donovan by Karl Ferris who was his and Jimi Hendrix's personal photographer (requiring six colour separations for printing, instead of the usual four separations).
After recording the Mellow Yellow album, Donovan focused on releasing hit singles. "Epistle to Dippy" (essentially an inside-joke/open letter for a childhood friend) hit the top 20 in February 1967 and "There is a Mountain" (#11 US; #8 UK) followed in August.
Riding high on the success of these singles, Donovan entered the studio in October to record his next album. The double album that resulted from these sessions consisted of one disc of electric pop music (Wear Your Love Like Heaven) and another of acoustic children's music (For Little Ones). The acoustic album allowed Donovan to present a facet of his songwriting that had not been featured on his singles. It also allowed him to show his strength as a guitar player and performer in a way that he could not when augmented by session musicians. In fact, Donovan's live performances of the time featured instrumentation and performances more in line with For Little Ones than his hit singles and the first record of A Gift From a Flower to a Garden.
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Wikipedia